


count on me

by hoorayy



Category: Fankids - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling, Tags to be added, rated for swearing in some chapters, roughly in chronological order, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23930125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoorayy/pseuds/hoorayy
Summary: A collection of found family-focused drabbles set in the Superhero Universe.
Relationships: Edmund Renault-Quincy & Jade "JJ" Diaz, Edmund Renault-Quincy & Jade "JJ" Diaz & Catherine "Quin" Quincy
Kudos: 3





	1. Blanket

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: JJ stole a blanket.

JJ stole a blanket.

Like, a _good_ blanket, none of that threadbare, worn-out, clumsily patched shit they’ve been making do with. Winter’s setting in again and it’s already _so cold._ Like hell is JJ going to risk Edmund getting sick again. So she snags a blanket, brand new, fluffy and soft and _big,_ big enough for both of them to huddle under. 

Edmund loves it; he keeps rubbing his hands against the soft underside of the fabric and grinning. They’re sharing it, Edmund tucked under her arm and as much of him pressed against her side as he can manage. He’s _smiling._ He pulls the blanket a little tighter up to his chin, and JJ doesn’t even complain about his bony shoulder jabbing her ribs

Jade pulls him a little closer, leaves a kiss on his forehead just to hear his bubbling little giggle. It’s cold out, so bitterly cold but there’s warmth in her chest - and it hasn't come from the blanket.


	2. Laugh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: JJ hears Edmund laugh.

JJ hears Edmund laugh for the first time about six months after they met. She’s heard him chuckle, little huffs of amusement and accidental snorts, a few times before, but this is the first time he’s really laughed. It’s a treat day for them—they’ve saved up a few dollars to get themselves inside somewhere warm and safe for as much of the day as they can. 

Edmund picks an arcade. They buy as many tokens as they can afford and they make them last as long as possible. And they get prizes at the end too - a whole bunch of candy and this little squishy penguin Ed keeps squeezing to make its eyes bug out. He’s giggling to himself as he does it, and then he taps her arm to get her attention and turns the penguin towards her. 

“JJ. JJ look, he’s got his eyes on you!” He squeezes the penguin and bursts out laughing, bubbling and happy. And for those moments, JJ thinks, he sounds like he’s just a regular kid.


	3. Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Local Youth Librarian A Dumbass, But In A Good Way.

There are new kids at Quin's library.

They keep coming nearly every day and at first she doesn’t think anything about it. Plenty of kids visit the library often, it’s not a big deal. But then they’re there  _ all the time. _ Sometimes they wear the same clothes multiple days in a row. The girl’s coat looks like it’s a prayer away from falling apart, and the boy’s shoes are at least three sizes too big. They don’t show up much during the week, so she thinks they’re in school somewhere, but weekends they’re here from open to close. They’re shy, and it takes a couple weeks before Quin even gets “JJ” and “Eddie” out of them.

There’s red flags going up everywhere after that. They don’t give anything but the nicknames. They’re happy to show up for any program, which is great for Quin’s numbers, but they won’t sign up for anything that requires an adult signature and won’t take out a library card either. (Not for lacking of reading, though; Eddie’s blown through every recommendation she’s given him and more. She’s started to joke he’ll read the whole library at this rate.)

She doesn’t know what it means. They’re either afraid to ask their parents for anything, or… or  _ something. _ She doesn’t have enough evidence to call anyone, and she’s not even sure she should. So she just makes friends with them, gradually gets them to trust her and learns more about them. (Eddie is short for Edmund; JJ has dyslexia; they both love pizza.)

It’s after that she starts getting more worried. It’s getting so cold, and JJ’s coat isn’t getting any better. They’re both so thin. Eddie starts coughing, and then he starts coughing more. JJ looks like she hasn’t slept in days, and more often that not, Quin finds her dozes off in a chair while Edmund reads beside her.

There’s still no sign of parental involvement, and they’re starting to come in more often too, especially when it’s particularly cold, and even more when it starts snowing. Even during school hours now.

The final straw happens when Quin is walking home late one night after having run out for groceries, and she finds the two kids ( _ “her kids,” _ she catches herself thinking) huddled together on a park bench. She wouldn’t have seen them in the dark, except she hears Eddie coughing, for far too long and far too hard. JJ is murmuring to him, and neither of them see Quin until she’s stopped in front of them.

Quin gets them to gather up their things - a backpack each and a blanket rolled up on top, and she can’t ignore the now  _ so obvious _ signs that they’ve been on their own for a long, long time. She doesn’t know how she ever didn’t see them. JJ protests for a few moments, but she seems too tired and too worried to really push it. She carries Quin’s groceries so Quin can carry Eddie, and they all squish into Quin’s tiny apartment for the night.

Doctor tomorrow, Quin decides; a warm place to sleep will have to be enough for Edmund for now. She gets them something to eat, gets them set up on the couch, and they’re asleep in minutes. JJ’s arm wrapped protectively around Eddie; Eddie’s face half-hidden against JJ’s shirt.

Quin’s heart squeezes while she looks at them. She… she has no idea what to do. She should call someone, should find out who they belong to and get them somewhere safe…

But this apartment is safe. This couch is safe. Quin can’t help it, she’s already in love with these kids and  _ God so help her, _ she will keep them safe.

A doctor for Eddie tomorrow. Everything else after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a pro-library message. Support your local libraries folks.  
> As always, JJ belongs to spaceacealyx and you can catch me on tumblr @pidgedee for anything fankids related!


	4. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbass Youth Librarian, but softer this time.

Quin never meant to have kids.

She’s always been too reckless, too volatile, too likely to up and disappear with no warning. (That’s what ruined everything, way back then.)

Quin is too _dangerous_ to rely on. She’s barely been scraping by these last couple of years – adopted a cat to pretend she’s responsible, stuck in one apartment for long enough for her neighbors to recognize her, and even has kept a consistent job the whole time too. But it’s not quite enough, never quite covering up that little itch inside of her that always says _“you know you could just leave.”_

Quin never meant to stay. And yet…

And yet here she is, pinned down.

Right now, literally. JJ is asleep on her side, shoulder digging into Quin’s ribs in a way that’s almost uncomfortable, but the discomfort mostly just makes Quin realize how skinny she still is. Eddie too – he’s sprawled across JJ’s lap, sound asleep as well – they’re both just too small.

They’re fifteen and sixteen. Quin hadn’t believed JJ at first when she said it, but then Eddie backed her up. They’re _so little_ that Quin was sure they were years younger. She’d had them both registered in the under-fourteen programming at the library, and neither of them had corrected her until they moved in.

It’s creeping up on a month now. A month of getting them to slow down while they’re eating, of convincing them it’s still going to be there later. A month of waking up to nightmares (theirs, but sometimes her too) and waiting outside their room until she hears them fall asleep again.

(She tried to help once; turns out the presence of an adult isn’t comforting to either of them. It sends a knife into Quin’s heart every time she thinks about that, and the low simmering urge to hunt down whatever adults made that happen. Whatever adults are the reason these two kids chose _living on the streets_ over anything else.)

A month. A month since Quin has thought about leaving.

Because, hell, why would she? She has a cat and a new apartment—two bedrooms now—and a job. She has two kids, not her own, but they’re keeping her here anyway. For as long as they need her.

Quin never meant to have a family again. And yet, here they are anyway.


	5. Blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edmund's finally home after a long, long absence. JJ hasn't taken it well.

“It isn’t just your fault.”

The words come out quiet, a little too hoarse. Jade’s fingers go still in his hair, which she’d been combing through for the last ten minutes. Which was when he’d climbed into her bed like a child looking for comfort after a bad dream, for the third night in a row. He wishes, sometimes, he didn’t need that comfort quite so much. Not enough to stop looking for it, though. 

(He’s been home a week. He hasn’t been able to sleep alone yet.)

It takes her a moment to answer. “Eddie, we talked about this.”

“No,” he interrupts, and he props himself up on one elbow to look at her. “It’s not just your fault. If you won’t accept that it’s not your fault at all, then just—share the blame, okay? It wasn’t just you. I could’ve done something diff—“

JJ’s voice is strained. “Don’t. Don’t you dare, Edmund, none of it was—you didn’t do  _ anything _ wrong, don’t you fucking dare finish that.”

“So you get to take the blame and I don’t?” He sits up fully now, knocking her hand away from him completely. She’s about to interrupt, eyebrows furrowing and mouth opening, but he doesn’t stop. There’s something in his chest, a bit ugly, a bit painful; he doesn’t bite it back. “Why? We were both there, we both could’ve made any number of choices—and I _saw_ it happen, JJ, I could _see_ _it_ and I still didn’t stop it from happening, so why is it you who gets to take the blame?”

“I swore I’d protect you,” Jade says bitterly. 

“And I swore it back!” Edmund’s voice rises more than he’d meant. JJ blinks, almost a flinch, and Edmund lowers his voice with a pang of regret. “Sorry. I just—I couldn’t let anything happen to you, I—I couldn’t... not without you—“

He’s crying again, he realizes a bit distantly. He rubs a hand across his eyes, trying to get it to stop. It just makes the tears more obvious instead, and then there’s that pained look on Jade’s face. It’s almost like the one she used to get whenever he was hurt and she’d look concerned, except now it’s worse. Now there’s guilt written on her face too, and he hates it.  _ He hates it.  _ She shouldn’t be feeling guilty because he‘s a goddamn mess. Because he got himself into this, because he couldn’t get himself out soon enough, because he isn’t good enough—

(No. That’s his mother talking. He isn’t there anymore, he  _ isn’t there. _ )

“Edmund,” she says, gentle and quiet and calm. “It’s okay. I’m here, I’m okay. We’re safe.”

“I know,” Edmund says, except it comes out as a sob instead and his voice breaks. God, this is why she thinks she has to take care of him and never the other way around: because he’s fucking pathetic.

He lets her pull him back in, wiping away tears with her thumb, and as much as he wants to stop, to be stronger and better, to be  _ her _ , he melts into her touch instead. 

“It’s okay,” she whispers. “You’re okay, Eddie. I’m not going to let them hurt you ever again.”

He sinks against her, lets her put her arms around him again, rests his head on her shoulder while she goes back to gently combing her fingers through his hair. And he stays like that, long enough that everything he’d meant to say fades away from him, leaving behind the sour trace of a memory and not much else.

She didn’t really get it. They’re right back to this—he’s the one who needs to be taken care of, exactly what he doesn’t want. As much as he wants it. He wants it and he hates it all at once, and he can’t come up with the words to tell her that. But he can try again, later, tomorrow, the day after. Any day, he reminds himself. He isn’t going anywhere.

(Except he still can’t convince himself it’s real.)

**Author's Note:**

> JJ belongs to spaceacealyx, check out their work for more fankid goodness! you can also catch me on tumblr @pidgedee for art, fankid content, and whatever other bullshit I'm currently on.


End file.
